A cardiologist, endocrinologist, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner and allergist. These five medical professionals in Burbank and Glendale may have different specialties, but they have one source of income in common — drug companies.

In the 1984 spoof rockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," the heavy metal band gets into trouble over the potentially offensive album "Smell the Glove." But the gantlet the band members were forced to run seems mild compared to something two major newspapers...